Challenge Time Again – Less is More!

Are there types of challenges you love and then others you don’t like so much?  I have never really been into “recipe” challenges, where you are usually prompted with some kind numerical recipe:  3 papers, 5 flowers, etc.  But we all love to challenge ourselves, right?  So I thought I’d come up with a recipe challenge that I could enjoy.

I love layouts that have very few elements on them.  They can be so simple and yet beautiful and meaningful.  Here is my Recipe Challenge for you:  Make a 12×12 layout using at most FIVE digital scrapbooking items.  By “items” I mean papers, elements, wordart – files that are included in scrapbooking kits.  So, your background counts as one of the five.  If you use the same item twice, then that counts as TWO (or however many times you use it).  A wordart counts as one.  You can place as many photos as you want, and you can enter as much text as you want, but if you clip a paper to the text, then that counts toward the five items.  You can also use your software to do any kind of snazzy effects you’d like (including using actions and layer styles) and those won’t count toward the five – just as long as no more than five scrapbooking files are used.  And, I will let you count an entire alphabet as one item, for those of you who want to make a title with an alphabet.

I was tempted to post an old layout of mine as an example, because I procrastinated, and I have lazy tendencies.  But I thought – that’s not really fair, is it?  So I made a completely new layout using the challenge criteria…. and I found it was a little bit challenging to use only five items, even for me!!  So I’m really glad I didn’t limit us to three items (which I was considering at one point along the way)!  hehe.  Here is my example layout:

I used 1 background paper, 1 frame, 1 ribbon, and a flower scatter twice = FIVE items.  I’ve been playing around with “embossing” my papers, so that’s a software feature that doesn’t count toward the five – to give you an idea of “extras” you can add for free, so to speak.

Here is a layout by Gina for another example:

She used 1 background paper, 1wordart set (all one png file in the new S&S Kit #4), 1 frame, 1 stitch, and 1 paint splatter.  Wonderful simplicity!

To earn a Petal Point for this challenge, you must

• Use at least 80% W&W products in your layout
• Upload your layout to the W&W Challenge Gallery
• Put a copy of your image in the Challenge Thread
• Deadline is Sunday evening, April 11, 2010.  (I’ll close the thread around midnight EST.)

The CT girls will vote on a favorite layout, and that one will earn a bonus Petal Point.

See you later!